Skylar is a gender-neutral name, and, according to MyNameStats (2024), the name is assigned to white children nearly 80% of the time compared to 13% African American children. It is not clear to me whether 13% is statically significant to conclude employers or resume algorithms would filter out Skylar’s employment application.  However, it could happen.  As we learned from Bertrand and Sendhill (2013) field experiment measuring labor market discrimination, employers consciously and, perhaps unconsciously, filter applications based on name, assuming race and even social standing.  This gives rise to the need to at least consider the impact names have on a child’s destiny, while still honoring one’s cultural identity and traditions.

Reading the article did not affect my decision, but I do believe name prejudice is a very real issue in society.

One of the reasons my mom wanted to name me Everleigh, besides just liking the name, was that when my childhood home was built, my mom and dad noticed Evergreen trees all around the property, and also planted more while it was being built. So it also has a sentimental value to her from the start of my life with the name Everleigh stemming from the word Evergreen.

I feel that jobs look for diversity and I feel like a name like Everleigh may help aid in that as it is not as popular as something like my sisters name, Emily or Haley. However, I did not choose a name based on that.

One of the reasons my mom wanted to name me Everleigh, besides just liking the name, was that when my childhood home was built, my mom and dad noticed Evergreen trees all around the property, and also planted more while it was being built. So it also has a sentimental value to her from the start of my life with the name Everleigh stemming from the word Evergreen.

I feel that jobs look for diversity and I feel like a name like Everleigh may help aid in that as it is not as popular as something like my sisters name, Emily or Haley. However, I did not choose a name based on that.

(Reposting after logging into my account so it no longer displays as " Anonymous")

My first child was named after my side of the family: Elinora after my maternal grandma Elinor and my paternal grandma Margaret Eleanor. My son was named after my hunsband's family. Grayson for several of his ancestors and Earl for his father. When we had our third child, we picked Lilith for her first name for Lilith's place in mythology. Her middle name is Marie, which is mine. We felt this made our family names "even" between each of us. Elinora goes by Nora, and Lilith goes by Lily. I appreciate names which can be shortened or flexible. Even naming my virtual child after a horror movie shows that I like names to have meaning.

All of my children have my maiden name as their second middle name with my husband's last name.

My children walk with priviledge I acknowledge. Although we have worried that Lily might be teased if her friends seek out a definition, which is sometimes listed as "mother of demons." Grayson Earl does not relish the social stigma equated with a white southern boy named Earl. However, they will never encounter the level of prejudice from the example of research based simply on their names. As a lifelong writer, names were extremely important to me. I wanted them to mean something and sound lyrical.

Moving forward to my virtual son who I decided to name Ashton.  

  I decided to name my virtual son Ashton because of my preference for the name . There were no cultural or family traditions behind the name Ashton.  I was shocked to find out that Ashton has many meanings behind the name. The name Ashton in the bible comes from the “Ash Tree” which was a guardian of children and a healing agent for childhood illness.

Ashton is a common name that will positively affect his future. Now that diversity, inclusion, and pronouns are spoken about more today I believe the uniqueness of someone’s name will not affect a person’s future as much as it would a decade ago.  

I do not believe that this name would affect my child's employment or development. I will admit that when naming my child, I had considered whether the name would be a factor of my child being teased or picked on in school. There is something really sad about the world when the naming of your child can be affected by the opinions of others. Societal perceptions of people based on names dictates that certain people are not employable because a person with a certain name would be less hard working. While I understand that it is not fair and a terrible way to look at the world when naming your child, I do understand that this happens more often than we care to admit as a society.

While I did not let the article affect my decision in naming my daughter, I still found it an interesting read. It is unfortunate that name bias/prejudice is prevalent in our culture, but I have hope that as we grow more diverse and inclusive as a society, this will become lesser of an issue.